


This IS a London Fog?

by Foodmoon



Series: Of Tea and Glitter Guns and Cats [6]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Mistaken assumptions, Platonic Relationships, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 08:46:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13586511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foodmoon/pseuds/Foodmoon
Summary: This time James double checks.





	This IS a London Fog?

**Author's Note:**

> All mistakes are mine.

James orders a London Fog. But this time he doesn’t take it on faith that it is what he ordered. He stands there and stares at it instead of paying the barista. His memory is vague, but he thinks it’s the same face he ordered from last time, with disastrous results.

“Sir?”

“This _is_ a London Fog, correct?”

“Yes, of course, sir.”

“Not a London Smog?”

"Has there been a problem with a London Smog before?” The barista looks concerned, but it’s the uncaring concern of a professional who’s asking just to reassure the customer that their problems are important.

“Just that it _was_ a London Smog when I ordered a London Fog.” James says in a depressed tone. It’s not exactly a fake. He is depressed at making such a simple error, and one that angered Q rather than placated him for borrowing sleeping space. He’s also upset because he’s going to have to buy yet another suit, which would be fine, except that one hadn’t been a week old yet. “It was thrown in my face.”

The barista’s eyes widen slightly, and his brows lift in shock. “That’s terrible, sir!”

The sympathy is mostly automatic, but seems sincere enough. And there’s no recognition, no guilt, and the hint of glee is more like disbelief than malice. Under James’ searching, hangdog stare, the barista adds reassuringly,

“This is definitely a London Fog, sir. No espresso added.”

James decides that one way or another, the incident must have been a miscommunication. Possibly on his part, given how drunk he’d been. He pays and half shuffles out of the coffee shop like the sad businessman he’s posing as.

He doesn’t see, as behind him the barista’s eyes widen again in sudden recognition, followed by a flash of guilt. So he doesn’t turn around and come back to intimidate him into never, ever, EVER doing it again.

But the image of a woman throwing a hot drink in a thoughtful man’s face sticks with the barista, and after that? He’s a lot more careful to make sure a customer is ordering for themselves if he thinks about helpfully tweaking their drinks. _(And is a little less upset with the fact that his manager saw, bawled him out for the incident in question, and made him pay the few pence in difference. After all, getting a customer’s girlfriend mad at him wasn’t his intent, and so he probably does deserve the yelling, even if the manager was just being a berk about it.)_  
  
The barista never does learn that the drinks that James comes in to order occasionally are for the geeky customer who fiddles with his phone and discusses the quality of different coffee beans from different areas of the world while waiting for his order on the rare occasions he comes in and orders a London Fog, light on the Vanilla syrup.

He does, however, learn a surprising amount about coffee beans that proves useful when his manager quizzes him on it. Though he does wonder why a man who only orders tea knows so much about coffee.

James, on the other hand, just makes sure the tea is delivered to Q in a more prompt manner, when he has occasion to order from the shop. Until Q gets fed up with half-cooled London Fogs and designs a self-warming cup sleeve that looks like a refugee from a Q-branch trashed parts pile, and warms in response to weight increments so that the liquid inside is never overheated.

The cats are fascinated with it. After a few times of finding them perched on the counter, staring at it, putting their paws inside now and then just to hear it click as it warms up, Q takes to hiding it in the cupboard when it isn’t in use.

**Author's Note:**

> I realized that I'd forgotten to write this bit out. It feels a bit flatter than I'd meant it to, but hopefully it's not terrible.
> 
> When he finally sees it, Alec is delighted. He borrows it (sometimes he even asks first) so often that Q gives it to him at the first excuse for a holiday and makes a new one that looks more like a normal, padded cup sleeve. This version heats more gently, so he doesn’t have to hide it from his cats to keep their paws off of it.
> 
> I realize it's rough, no need to tell me.  
> Editing comments and other comments are fine, but please be gentle.


End file.
